Montenegro gets 128m dollar EIB loan
(PODGORICA) - Montenegro and the European Investment Bank signed an accord Thursday for a 91-million-euro (128-million-dollar) loan aimed at boosting the economic recovery of the Adriatic state.
The funds would help Montenegrin banks to finance small businesses hit by the global recession, according to the deal signed by EIB vice president Dario Scannapieco and Montenegro Finance Minister Igor Luksic.
This "substantial influx of funding is expected to boost the economy and help the country navigate under the current difficult circumstances," Scannapieco told reporters.
Small businesses in Montenegro have struggled in the crisis, while the banking sector suffered with deposits falling more than 250 million euros since October.
The International Monetary Fund said in April that Montenegro, after a notable growth in the past two years, could face recession in 2009.
Montenegro's economy had flourished largely thanks to foreign investment since it declared independence from a loose federation with Serbia in mid-2006.
But analysts warned the country needed serious reconstruction of its economy, which has so far relied heavily on tourism and associated property market speculation.
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